


a look inside the head of one (1) will byers

by secondhandbruises (orphan_account)



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Im A Bad Author, M/M, Sad Will Byers, honestly, idk - Freeform, its actually pretty terrible lmao, just let my son live pls, kind of a character study???, will deserves better
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2018-10-01
Packaged: 2019-07-23 07:27:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16154387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/secondhandbruises
Summary: pretty much just a character study of will from the end of S2.no plot, badly written, sad boi.srry in advance lmao





	a look inside the head of one (1) will byers

**Author's Note:**

> im actually Terrible at writing  
> i started this like, a year ago and just now finished lmao  
> i hate it but i wanna get rid of it, so here i guess

the byers family had a hectic year, right alongside the rest of the unlucky few involved in the purge of hawkins, indiana. will got the worst of it apparently, and nobody failed to remind him of that.

he appreciated the concern from his family (which consisted of everyone who stuck by his side during that dramatic ordeal that he didn’t want any remembrance of, not that they particularly noticed that bit.), he really did. all the care and support meant a lot, and the concern was certainly endearing; even if he wasn’t too fond of suddenly becoming the center of attention. his mom and jonathan were worried. that was reasonable. he had been possessed for a while, in addition to having been physically put through what had to have been an alternative version of actual hell. 

all of the focus being pinned on will was more than a little overbearing. he was used to stepping back, letting others hog up the spotlight and take leadership roles. he preferred it that way— it was less stressful. being in the background while mike, or anyone else in the party, took charge and dealt with decision making and adults and assumed responsibility of the others’ actions. he liked to think himself to be neutral when it came to having power within the hierarchy of his nerd group; he’d rather watch decisions unfold, but will was still perfectly capable of handling things when it came down to it. 

it wasn’t like he had some sort of inferiority complex or any of that ‘confidence issue’ bullshit. everyone seemed to think he did though, and treated him him like glass regardless of how many times he said they didn’t need to. will knew he was just as important, with just as much influence, as the other kids, if not a little more from being so charmingly adorable (he had joyce to thank for that, of course). he didn’t feel the need to put himself down over what happened, didn’t beat himself up over it because he knew it wouldn’t change anything, so what was the point? he didn’t actively decide to try and ruin his friends’ plan to save him. the past was past. the mind flayer was out of him.

(if any of that shit came came back though, will byers was personally going to kick its ass out of existence.)

will understood the doting, but that didn’t mean he enjoyed it. if one of the other party members had been stuck in the upside down for a week, he wouldn’t expect them to be okay well after they’d graduated and got the hell out of dodge. he wouldn’t even consider them to be remotely mentally stable after a year. 

he realized he may have been being a little more difficult than necessary, but he’d come to terms with the facts. the nightmares were what fucked with his head the most, since they mostly consisted of a gruesome parallel reality where something different went wrong each time the events replayed in his head. those had been the hardest for will, and they had gradually become sparse. he barely broke a sweat now— instead of screaming bloody murder at the prospect of losing the people he was close to, will rolled his eyes and sauntered into the nearest bathroom to wash his face. he was over it. why couldn’t everyone else be?

there was a lot that will resented about the case, starting with the statement that the mind flayer/demogorgon picked the absolute shittiest town to take root in. Following that, the dickhead ‘scientists’ at hawkins lab had to go fuck with it and make everything worse than it already was. the youngest byers was mostly pissed that the only (dwindling) decent people within a two-thousand mile radius of his home were dragged into the whole shitfest by chance. why couldn’t it have been troy, or someone equally as bad a character?

(he felt a monumental amount of guilt for wishing such a terrible thing upon someone else, but he couldn’t help how he felt. his family hadn’t deserved what the world dished out to them.)

after everything he’d survived, he was still treated like a child. it was as if not-dying made him weaker somehow. everyone surrounding him acted like the shadows in the corners of will’s room could cause him to relapse (into what exactly, he didn’t know) at any second. the truth, not that anyone seemed to have a hold on it, was that will had been a part of something scarier, darker than anything that could manifest in the blackness around the edges.

~

at the moment though, will had other things to worry about. steve was supposed to come over to watch him (cue eye-roll at the thought) in the place of jonathan, who had taken nancy to a diner a bit out of town. will felt bad for steve; who in their right mind would willingly babysit the little brother of the boy who ‘stole’ his girlfriend? then again, steve was the only adult he could remotely stand after recent babying, so he supposed he really couldn’t complain.

“bye, will,” jonathan said, ruffling his hair as he trudged towards the door. he hung the replacement camera around his neck by the strap, fixing his little brother with a final apprehensive stare. upon realizing that he was going to be late, the older byers flushed with embarrassment at the image of his date waiting in her driveway in the cold, rushing out of the door with a last farewell. will figured he’d have about fifteen minutes to reflect before steve arrived.

metaphorically speaking of harrington, will was still fuzzy on the details about how he even got involved in the first place. that was another thing will sympathized about. he’d been tugged into this mess, and still had no idea what was going on. from what he’d heard, his brother and mike’s sister had something to do with his being dragged down the rabbit hole, which was really shit, in will’s humble opinion. then he’d gotten the hell beat out of him by billy, for max and lucas, when he’d barely known them for three days. furthermore, steve had become the go-to when any of the parents needed someone to babysit their kid, which really seemed unfair. steve didn’t appear to mind all that much about it though.

there was a knock at the door, then a raspy, “i’m here!” as steve stumbled in, shutting it behind himself. the soft thumps of his boots on the wood floor brought byers out of his head, and the kid looked up when a backpack was plopped into the chair across from him. steve put his hands on his hips, like the ultimate mom (which will found funny because joyce did that exact same thing), and squinted at the boy on the couch. will raised an eyebrow, before chuckling at the concentration on the adult’s face. that was a bit weird to think about; steve being an adult. he was though, both in legal age and mindset. will was kind of envious, on jonathan’s behalf, that steve was so mature. the older byers was off eloping with his ex girlfriend, and he wasn’t raising hell over it. quite the contrast, as he was babysitting jonathan’s little brother. 

once again, will felt pity cloud over his senses. he was ecstatic that it was steve that his mom had burdened with him though. harrington was the only figure in his life that didn’t treat him any different, so he was content with that. the boy also had a kind of open air around him, it made will feel a comfort to speak his mind that he usually didn’t feel around others. 

“have you had supper or am i about to catch the house on fire to make you something?” steve’s voice startled the younger byers out of his reverie. his statement brought about a series of mental images of the only harrington in a pink apron, furiously fanning smoke away from a pot of angrily steaming ramen. he laughed out loud for the first time in someone else’s company.

steve crossed his arms and scowled overdramatically, huffing at will. the boy thought he was mad for about five seconds, before the older’s expression faltered, and he too was giggling at his own expense, “i swear, i actually do know how to cook, alright!”

“yeah, yeah, yeah. and no, i haven’t eat yet,” will grinned up at the taller male, “i dunno if i have faith in your ability to avoid giving me food poisoning though."

“shhh, it’s fine,” steve sashayed his way into the small kitchen of the byers residence. “have anything in mind?”

“i’m not positive what we have that you could cook,” hummed will, as a kind of afterthought. baby byers couldn’t really remember the last time someone had cooked a meal in his house, much less with such readiness to do so. he was starting to feel a lot better about having steve around. the older boy—man? oof—somehow managed to have a comfortable air of responsible naivety. will felt like he wouldn’t be over scrutinized or babied past steve normal amount of care. he even felt like, maybe, steve would realize that he could handle about anything after his trauma. 

“i’m sure we could find something…” harrington mumbled, in contemplation. 

will’s next clearest memory of that day is a room full of flour.

**Author's Note:**

> hmu on insta @mrgiff03 if u wanna talk Sad Bois or just talk idk im lonely lmao


End file.
